Scene 18 - November 6th

Exterior Training Grounds, Late Afternoon

Quinn Kaufman

“Good job, everyone,” Canaveral said, all of us circled up once more now that the match was over. “A lot of congratulations to go around.

“Loki, Anima tells me you created a new spell?”

He nodded proudly, wearing a goofy and distractingly-adorable grin. “A magical version of the normal earpieces! That way Starling couldn’t listen in on us and I could lead the team and contribute myself.”

“Very well done. You’ve also gotten much better at misleading people since last year!”

He deflated a little. “Didn’t work, though.”

“Don’t feel bad - I’ve worked against a fair few illusionists in my day. You’ve got a ways to go before you can trick me, but you’re well on your way.” Canaveral offered him a fist bump, which after a moment Loki accepted.

“Next, Hypnos. Are Vulcan and I right to think that you’ve cracked the case on precognition?”

He nodded, seeming just as proud. “It’s like thinking at right angles compared to using my power normally, and I’ve only got it out to about two seconds right now, but once I figured out the trick it was almost easy. It’s given me a new idea on how to approach my regular power, too.”

“Well done indeed,” Canaveral said again, and they exchanged high fives.

“Newton,” he said, turning to me.

“I know,” I said, glancing down. “I screwed up.”

He nodded. “You screwed up. Can you tell me where?”

“I shouldn’t have attacked, I should have kept the chase going,” I explained.

Canaveral glanced at Loki, who glanced down, seemingly embarrassed. “Tell me, why did you turn back to attack?”

“...I guess... you looked like you were about to turn back. It seemed like the best way to get your attention back on me.”

He nodded. “It was, and I was. Anima had just called for assistance. If not for you slowing me down by another 30 seconds, I probably would have gotten back in time to help her.”

“That wasn’t wrong?”

“You have good instincts,” Canaveral told me. “You need to develop them a little more, you need to do some physical conditioning - you’re in good shape for a civilian, but as a hero you’ll need more endurance than you showed today - and you’ll need to brush up on your fighting skills. But for what was...” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Your third time using your powers in combat, I think? Unless you’ve been going out without telling us...”

I shook my head. “I’m pretty busy with classes. It’s amazing I’ve managed to get enough free time to spend with you all, I would never be able to go out on my own, too.”

“Anyway, for your third time in combat, you did great.” He clapped me on the shoulder, then added. “You second-guess yourself a lot, Quinn. Have a little more confidence, okay?”

I nodded uncertainly. “So... if fighting you in the first place wasn’t the problem, where did I go wrong?”

“You left me in a blind spot,” Canaveral explained. “You ducked below the edge, where you couldn’t see me, even with your ESP, and that let me surprise you - because I could see you.”

“How?”

“I can do a sort of echolocation thing. It’s relatively short-ranged, and it works best through solid objects - that’s how I knew where you were. It’s how I knew the buyers of that drug deal I took you to bust had arrived, too.”

“It’s also how he saw through my attempts to mislead him,” Loki added.

“Having extra senses is one of the most useful things for any hero,” Canaveral said, his eyes flicking to Hypnos for a moment. “Anything that can give you information your enemies don’t think you have. Let that be the lesson for today - never leave yourself somewhere you can’t see the enemy if you can help it.”

Loki cleared his throat. “That’s not the only thing we get, I hope?”

Canaveral nodded. “Indeed it isn’t. Vulcan, would you grab the trophy?”

The huge man, still made of metal, went to a large box and produced a large golden trophy cup, emblazoned with an MLED logo. At its base, it said ‘Paintball Champions 2020’. Vulcan hefted the massive trophy as if it weighed nothing at all and passed it to Sequoia, who similarly had no difficulty holding it.

“Winners gather round your trophy,” Canaveral said, taking his phone from one of the lockers we had left our stuff in before changing into paintball uniforms and pointing it our way. “Say ‘we kicked superhero butt!”

I let out a brief laugh before joining in with my friends as we all chorused “WE KICKED SUPERHERO BUTT!”